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“I hear that you have agreed to serve the human, Dumbledore,” Firenze heard a rough voice behind him say. He turned to see Mangorian standing behind him, wearing a murderous look on his features.

Firenze opened his mouth to speak, trying to find the right words. “Dumbledore was in need of assistance, and I simply agreed-”

“To work for a human! We do not work for them! We are the superior ones!” Mangorian roared, and Firenze glanced nervously around. He could see other centaurs gathering around, drawn to them by Mangorian’s shouts.

“You have betrayed us. You have gone against our beliefs, and so we do not want you in our herd anymore!” he bellowed.

“You cannot do that! I have only agreed-”

“To betray our kind!”

Firenze looked around, desperately searching for a single face that would agree with him, but all of them wore the same distain and scorn as Mangorian’s.

“Listen to me! I-”

But Mangorian did not listen. Firenze could feel his chest shatter as Mangorian struck him once, hard, leaving a mark where his hoof had been. “Now leave! Do not disgrace our kind with your presence any longer!”

Firenze stared around hopefully, clutching the spot where he had been kicked. There was no regret or sorrow on any of their faces. They were all equally stern. Firenze took a last look at them before turning and galloping away.

GORGEOUS banner by Kat/Mistletoe! Thank you so much!
Icon by me [disillusion_row on livejournal].

He could never understand Firenze. Always mingling with the humans that one was. It was most disturbing to an elderly centaur such as himself. In his day respectable centaurs didn’t just run off to teach young humans! It was just irresponsible.

Thank goodness he wasn’t immediately related to Firenze. Firenze’s poor mother had of course been heart broken when her son left the herd.

He would of course never do such a thing. Not only because of his age, but because it was just irresponsible and unreasonable to leave the herd! If he had done such a thing when he was younger he would have been stomped on by the herd.

But now, with these young ones, they let Firenze go! Without proper punishment! It was hardly enough just to throw Firenze out of the herd with only a kick in the chest. What was the world coming to?

And not to mention all those insolent students always wandering into the forest! There was no peace to be had anymore! No wonder the younger generations of centaurs were all so untraditional. Their minds had been poisoned by the humans. Yes indeed!

Hagrid had, of course, been good friend of theirs. He was kind and treated the centaurs with respect. But even he had crossed the line! Those humans were growing too arrogant, the lot of them!

Why in the world would Firenze want to mingle with them- and teach them! It was insane!

One more awful detention with Snape done, only three left, Neville thought glumly as he left the dungeon classroom, sore from scrubbing cauldrons three hours straight. He was halfway to the stairs leading up to the Great Hall when a magnificent song burst out behind him. He turned around cautiously, fearing it was Draco Malfoy attempting a cruel joke, but all he saw was an odd looking bird.

It had a round body, with no definite head; instead, its facial features shown upon the upper part of its body. The creature, which was balancing on its two tiny legs, was a bright yellow, with a few orange and pink feathers here and there. Its long tail feathers had a note attached to them

Neville,

I hope you enjoy this bird’s lovely song.

Slightly confused as to why the bird had found him there and who had sent it, he picked it up and headed back to the Gryffindor common room. The beautiful voice of the strange creature floated along with him as he ascended through the castle.

When he entered the common room, heads everywhere turned his way.

“Wicked bird, Longbottom!”

“Ooh! It’s so pretty!”

“Neville!” came one voice he knew very well.

“Hi, Hermione! Do you like my new pet? I think Gran just sent him, so I haven’t picked out a name yet!” He told the girl in an excited tone, dazed by the continuing song.

“Neville, do you even know what that is?” Without waiting for a reply, Hermione continued, “It’s a fwooper! If you don’t put a silencing charm on it, the song will eventually drive you crazy! SILENCIO!” She silenced he beautiful bird. “I’m sorry, but I had to. The song would have become addicting to you, otherwise.”

Neville looked disappointed, but nodded in acceptance, now remembering something he had read in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

“Maybe it wasn’t Gran that sent it. It was a trick from the Slytherins, mean to drive me crazy.”

“Has anybody seen Scabbers?” Ron was digging through his school trunk, once again searching for his rat. “He wouldn’t have run away again! Harry!” he glanced sideways at his friend. “I thought you said you were going to help look for him!”

“Sorry Ron, I got distracted. Maybe we should go check the common room again. You’ve gone through your clothes about a million times already. Besides, maybe Hermione, Ginny or one of your brothers have seen him.”

Ron looked as though he wanted to continue rummaging through his belongings, but obliged, “Okay.”

When they reached the bottom of the dormitory stair case, they could see Hermione frantically looking around the common room. “Do you guys hear that? It’s driving me insane!”

“Hear what?” questioned Harry.

“That chattering. Oh my, I can’t believe it just said that!” screamed Hermione as they heard a small non-human voice, curse horribly.

“It doesn’t sound very human, or loud. But I really don’t care right now ‘Mione. I have to find Scabbers.” Ron began somberly looking around the common room. “Woah! What is that?!” He pointed toward a large ferret slowing moving toward the open portrait hole.

“Hang on,” said Hermione slowly, realizing what had happened to Scabbers. “That’s a Jarvey. I bet if we follow it we’ll find Scabbers! C’mon we have to hurry… They eat rats.”

“Scabbers!” Ron opened the portrait hole and ran out, but stopped almost immediately, when he noticed his rat lying in the middle of the hallway taking a nap. “Ugh, what a stupid rat!”

For the Love of the Family Business.

Username:joannaHouse:Ravenclaw!Title: For the Love of the Family Business.Word Count: 141Warnings: none

For the Love of the Family Business.

Alexander Ollivander looked at his son rather proudly, as young Charles approached the impressive-looking yew tree. The child was only seven, but Alexander knew that love for the family business must be implanted at an early age. So when his wife finally allowed young Charles to go on a trip with his father, Alexander took him on one of his usual jaunts to the woods where his famous wands came from.

Charles was now holding some woodlice in his trembling hands, waiting for the Bowtruckle that inhabited that particular tree. The tree-guardian sniffed cautiously at Charles’ hand, and then picked up a woodlouse with its long sharp fingers. That was enough distraction for Alexander to hew a few branches with the help of his wand.

“Well done, my boy,” he praised his son, the pride in his eyes couldn’t be missed.

Mr Tibbles sat panting in the shade of an automobile on Privet Drive, yellow eyes unblinking. Although Mundungus Fletcher was covered by an invisibility cloak, he had a rather distinct aroma to him, which Mr Tibbles could smell even over the petroleum dripping carelessly from the car under which he sheltered. His mistress didn't trust the mangy thief, and Mr Tibbles himself wasn't particularly fond of him either.

The angle the cat-like creature had chosen on the scorched pavement gave him a vantage on Harry Potter as well, who for some ridiculous reason, was lying in the parched soil of the flowerbed at Number Four, concealed behind a large hydrangea bush.

Mr Tibbles had long since learned to not try to make sense of human motives.

Suddenly, a distinctive and resounding crack! rang through the air, and Mr Tibbles streaked off to inform his mistress that Fletcher had left his post. He spent the better part of the next half-hour chasing down his owner and then trying to communicate the problem to her. By the time he'd succeeded, a unseasonably and unnatural freezing cold, accompanied by a misty darkness had settled in over the area, and Mr Tibbles took off, having had quite enough of Wizards and their strange behaviours for the evening.

Sirius flopped down on the white sandy beach, sighing. It had been five weeks since that fateful full moon. Five weeks since he had talked to Harry for the first time, five weeks since Harry and Hermione had saved him from the Dementor’s kiss. Sirius was tired, so very very tired. He didn’t want to run anymore, didn’t want to hide. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. Not even the beautiful beaches of Fiji could cheer him up.

A beam of sunlight fell right into his eye suddenly, partially blinding him. Sitting up he saw a tortoise-like creature, whose shell was reflecting the light, crawling along the beach. On second glance he saw that the creature’s shell was covered with jewels, pretty multicoloured jewels.

Sirius hadn’t seen anything like these jewels for fifteen years. There were no colours in Azkaban. Nothing pretty in any shape or form ever made it past the huge iron gates. An irresistible urge to touch the creature’s shell, to touch a part of nature’s beauty after all those years in the dark, took hold of him. Before he knew what he was doing he was on his feet again, slowly approaching the creature.

Reaching out his hand, he bend down and reverently caressed the creature’s shell. He was so engrossed in the feel of the jewels under his fingers and the play of light in front of him that he didn’t see the creature freezing and preparing for attack. Red-hot pain shot up his left leg. Stumbling backwards he saw the flames coming out of the creature’s rear end.

A Fire Crab, damn! With a few quick strides Sirius reached the water and proceeded to cool his severely burned leg. He seemed to even be denied the pleasure of admiring nature’s beauty.

Author Name: songbook99House: Hufflepuff Title: What Comes of DeathWord count: 483Warnings: Character death

He didn’t know exactly why he felt drawn into the Forbidden Forest on this particular night, but he felt the need to be away from the castle that had dominated his life for the past few years. The fact that he had been allowed to remain in residence at the castle even over the summer holidays only made this need to get away from the castle tonight more urgent. It was strange, however, since there was no where else he would choose to live.

Of course, he mused, nothing like what happened today has ever happened during my residence at the castle.

Dumbledore had walked down to Hogsmeade that day to meet with his brother Aberforth for a quick dinner meeting. They hadn’t seen each other for a while, but Aberforth had recently moved to Hogsmeade to open up a pub. It was after dinner, when Albus was headed back to Hogwarts, that he saw a sight he hoped to never see again. He had seen the murder of a young witch.

Being who he was, Dumbledore had put up charms to keep the murderer from Apparating as he sent for someone from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to pick him up. The use of Avada Kedavra on anyone was worth a life sentence in Azkaban, especially when there was a witness.

But now, walking through the darkness of the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore was able to put the incident in the back of his mind while he worked through the information his brother had passed him. It seemed that strange things were happening outside England’s borders. Things he should probably look into. Even though he was only a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he knew he was a powerful wizard and that many others looked to him for advice.

With his mind so busy with what he had learned, it was no surprise that he didn’t notice the strange creatures staring at him through the thickening trees. Nor did he hear them close in on him when he realized how far into the forest he had gone and that he should probably turn back and return to the castle.

Dumbledore was, therefore, slightly startled by the mysterious white eyes shining in the moonlight when he turned. Though he was looking at a creature he had never actually seen before, he knew exactly what it was. It was a thestral, and he noticed that there were five more still hiding behind trees.

Now he thought he understood why he had felt pulled to the Forbidden Forest. He knew how powerfully magical thestrals were and that their ability to move quickly might come in handy in the future. Looking into those white eyes and at the skeletal body, Dumbledore knew that, though he mourned the death of that young witch, being able to see these creatures might turn out well for him.

She would’ve told you that she was eight and three-quarters-years-old, not just eight, and that she lived in a breeding ground for various forms of fungi, not just in the small town of Ottery St. Catchpole. She would have also told you that her name was Luna Lovegood, but only because her parents had instructed her to, since not everybody understood or quite appreciated the self-given title of Fungi Queen. But no matter, even if those other people didn’t like that name, Fungi Queen, she did, and it was on this semi-normal Thursday afternoon that she was living up to it.

Luna thought her favorite fungus was probably the Bundimun, with its greenish color and adorable little eyeballs that stared up at her in a way she liked to think was appreciation for a person of royalty, like a queen, perhaps. There were many Bundimuns living in the Lovegoods’ backyard, situated on top of different sorts of logs and attached to all kinds of trees. All the Bundimuns hung out in Luna’s Fungi Kingdom, and even though her mum had insisted on getting rid of them, Luna always protested. Why get rid of such cute little creatures? Maybe her mum hadn’t realized the eyeballs; the eyeballs were what had captured Luna in the first place. So on this Thursday afternoon, Luna decided to show her mum what was so special after these fungi, and why there really wasn’t any reason to evict them from the kingdom.

She scraped Fancourt (that was this fungus’s name, named after the witch who had invented the Lunascope) off the huge tree in the middle of the backyard, placed her carefully inside a small container that had holes poked in it (for air, of course), and carried the Bundimun inside the house to show her mum.

“Yes, dear?” her mother asked when Luna walked into her study, container in hand.

“Mum, I brought something to show you.” As her mother smiled, Luna held up the container with Fancourt inside and lifted the lid so that the Bundimun was looking up at the older witch.

“See her eyes? Aren’t they pretty?” Luna inquired, handing the container to her mum so she could get a better look.

Mrs. Lovegood smiled and sighed, knowing what her daughter was trying to do. “Yes, Luna, they’re very lovely. What is this one’s name?”

“Fancourt,” Luna answered promptly. “And wouldn’t it be horrible to make her go away?”

“Yes,” her mother laughed. “It would be horrible to make Fancourt leave her home in our backyard.” When Luna’s eyes widened in hopes that her mother was agreeing to let the Bundimuns stay, Mrs. Lovegood smiled and said, “I suppose we can let the Bundimuns live here.”

Author: Starmaiden
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Chimaera Eggs
Word Count: 387
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I made it! I had a last-minute plot bunny. A quote from OotP for you, Chapter 21:
"[Hagrid] kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study knarls than chimaeras -- oh I don't think he's got a chimaera, but that's not for lack of trying from what he said about how hard it is to get eggs..."

The chimaera purred over her stone-coloured eggs. Two were curled in the protective circle of her hoofed feet, and she had probably a dozen more still to lay. For a moment, she rested, admiring her work thus far.

A cracking branch made her head snap up. Silently, she watched as an over-large, man-shaped figure approached.

Men had approached her before. Several had fled back to their villages, with additions of teeth marks or the subtractions of limbs. Two had their bones scattered about her lair. Both of those had approached her while she nurtured past clutches of eggs.

The new human, about fifty feet away, slowed and began to creep towards her, stopping about twenty feet away. His beetle-black eyes stared into the large golden-brown eyes of one of the most feared magical beasts on earth.

She had been silent until now in the hopes that he would leave. Normally, she would have taken his head off in one lunge, but she was still heavily pregnant, and would not leave her eggs unless she had to. Instead, with their eyes still locked, she growled low in her lioness throat.

Hagrid stopped for a moment to admire the glossiness of her lion’s fur that rippled seamlessly into a goat’s coarser, white fur, and the shininess of her dragon’s tail-scales. She was altogether beautiful.

The beautiful creature saw only that the human stared. And he stared especially hard at her eggs.

He began to sneak forward, making growly sounds as he came. “Grrrrrr! It’s a’right, little lady, it’s a’right. Grrrrr! I jus’ wan’ a look at yer eggs –”

She lunged properly this time, not with a snarl but with open jaws. He leapt back just in time. This time he left in proper manner – quickly. Her glistening teeth helped him to make up his mind, though he did cast a regretful glance back.

“’Agrid? You have found what you needed for your classes?”

Hagrid sat down next to Olympe with a heavy sigh. “Naw, it was too – expensive. Maybe nex’ year.”

Faint starlight cast a soft glow on the pale face of Cho Chang, making the tears drying on her cheeks sparkle, so that it looked as if she was weeping diamonds. She cast off the blanket and slipped out of bed, padding softly on bare feet to the window. Sighing, she leaned her brow against the cool glass. Coming from Britain, the tropical heat was nearly unbearable. She wished the holiday would end. Staring at the stars, her eyelids began to drift shut.

With a start, she realised that she was falling asleep. She staggered to the bed and lay down. Maybe she wouldn’t dream of Cedric. The weight of weariness and sorrow began to drag her eyes closed, until she suddenly noticed a dark shadow in front of the window. For a second the room was plunged into darkness, but before she could open her eyes fully it was gone.

A quiver of fear ran through her. Who knew what strange things lurked in foreign countries? She listened for a few minutes, ears strained to the utmost, but there was silence. Deciding it was a bat, she settled down once more.

A soft slithering sound jolted her into wakefulness once more. Fear paralysed her as the thingcame closer to where she lay. Her frightened eyes rolled over to where her wand lay, just within reach if only she could gather her courage to do it…

Before she could move, something soft and smooth slid across her face. Its silky folds absorbed the sounds of her screams. Shock and terror struck her, for she now knew what had her in its deadly grasp. A Lethifold, one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth. She struggled wildly, trying to pull it off, to draw just one breath. She began to feel dizzy and light-headed as her lungs cried out for air. Yet the supple body of the creature offered no purchase for her desperately scrabbling fingers. Weak from oxygen deprivation, she staggered backwards, crashing into the bedside locker. Her hands, flung behind her to break her fall, felt something cool and hard roll into them.

She now had her wand, but what to do? She knew practically nothing about Lethifolds, and her supply of oxygen was running out. She realised, in one crystal clear moment, that she was going to die. I’ll see Cedric again, she thought drowsily, death no longer holding any fear for her. Cedric’s face swam to her mind, laughing as she always remembered him doing. He had given her the happiest memories of her life…

Memories. Harry. Patronus. Cedric. Happy memories.

“Expecto Patronum!” she thought, expending the last of her energy. As she collapsed backwards, completely spent, she felt a merciful lightness on her face. She gasped and gulped until her vision cleared and she could see the black, cloak-like shape of the Lethifold retreating before the silver otter. Still shaking from fright, she turned and looked out the window at the stars.